John B

Have you heard any of his earlier solo discs? I'm listening to Right As Rain - Dedicated to Werner Ludi for the first time in a year or two. It is very melodic and, for Brotzmann, subdued. Very nice!

I don't have this oner, but I have The Catbird Sings(Black Saint) by the same band, and it is excellent. I had a feeling there is quite a bit of blowing though (as opposed to written material). Ochs is a great musician indeed. ----------------------------------------------- Got the new solo Brötzm. on FMP. Will report later. Blowing there is, too, but it seems like either it is very tightly included into written music, or (similar to our impression after hearing the Barry Guy group), maybe even though there is blowing, it might be all composed, or pre-structured. I'll let you know about the Braxton/Blake. ubu Tree Frog Tonality and Catbird Sings have been on my "to buy" list for years. The line-up of musicians looks wonderful, and everything I have heard about the playing has been very positive.

I love this album! Drake's solo during the title track always makes me stop and listen a second time. As much as I enjoy hearing Drake with Brotzmann, it is nice to hear him stretch out with someone different. Another great disc is his duo with Borah Bergman on Soul Note. This disc doesn't seem to get a lot of mention but it is fantastic! I don't know of any other Drake / pianist duets off the top of my head, which is too bad. This disc smokes!

I'm shocked to see Johnson mentioned in the Funny Rat thread. I've been going there every few months to Johnson State College, where a friend has been booking excellent free jazz shows. So far I have seen Marco Eneidi's Sound on Survival and BassDrumBone with Ray Anderson, Mark Helias and Gerry Hemingway. I missed out on a Raphe Malik / Sabir Mateen show. It is wonderful having acts like these traveling out to the middle of nowhere in VT.

I'm guessing they are trying to compete with Kind of Blue for the overall title. I never upgraded from my early '80s cd, so this will definitely be a purchase for me.

What label is it on? FMP.

That was silly of me. I didn't bother to look up the disc you mentioned. I have never heard that one and was assuming it was recorded around the same time as the others I found. I am now listening to Peter Brotzmann / Albert Mangelsdorff / Fred Van Hove and Han Bennink - Live in Berlin 1971. Very interesting, this is not an era of Brotzmann that I am very familiar with. Van Hove is playing fairly lyrically here (halfway through the 20 minute first track) while Bennink is being Bennink, howling and furiously beating everything in sight in a very controlled chaos. Brotzmann and Mangelsdorff are sitting out, but have been breathing fire everytime they play. So far I would not consider this album essential, but I am very much enjoying listening to it.

I did a quick search and couldn't find any recordings by him after 1969. It is a shame that he didn't record more.

In September the Clash will be reissuing London Calling with demos (including songs that didn't make it onto the album) and a DVD featuring performances from that era of the Clash. London Calling Reissued

Another recommendation for a disc that doesn't get a lot of mention around here: Alan Shorter - Orgasm Wayne's brother's debut as a leader, features Gato Barbieri, Charlie Haden, Reggie Johnson, Muhammad Ali (no, not that one) and Rashied Ali. Recorded in 1968, this one is a lot less "out" than I had expected. Very remniscent of Ornette, but not derivative. Since this was a Verve Elie Edition, I believe it is now OOP. If you see a copy floating around I would recommend grabbing it.

I keep seeing these elegends played up in reviews of the Leo Records Golden Years of the New Soviet Free Jazz sets. I have to admit, it is very easy to romanticize this music with the image of clandestine couriers spiriting the recordings out from "behind the iron curtain" and people's names being changed to protect those still in the USSR rtaher than simply judge the music on its own merits.

For those who don't know, The Marz Combo Live in Wuppertal features an earlier Brotzmann Tentet: Toshinori Kondo on trumpet, Werner Ludi, Larry Stabbins and Brotzmann on saxophones, Hannes Bauer and Paul Rutherford on trombone, Nicky Scopelitis and Caspar Brotzmann on guitar, William Parker on bass and Anton Fier on drums. This disc was recorded live in 1992 and seems to be the only recorded document of this group. I hadn't listened to this album in quite a while, so I brought it into work today. I am really enjoying it. It has a very different sound than the current Tentet, and I love the flavor the two guitarists add to the mix. There is a nice balance between more thoughtful, restrained sections and the full-on onslaught and bombast one might expect from a Brotzmann Tentet.

Well, two of the guys are French, so it is not entirely Russian. Did you listen to Vapirov disc (# 4) from the Golden Years Vol 1. set? I just went back and edited my post to reflect that. Yes, it is really good. The entire set is fantastic (even though the disc with vocals is not really to my taste,) especially given the reasonable price.

I am listening to this disc again: excellent work! French / Russian jazz recorded in France in 1999. I did a quick write-up of this one back in March. edit: I just noticed that the font on the cd cover is illegible here. Closed Mountains - Christopher Rocher, Jean Quillivic, Roman Ros and Yuri Yaremtchuk)

$$$ I purchased quite a bit of music in June and need to start budgeting myself a bit more. Thank you for the SAL advice! I will do so.

The Moontrane and Little Red's Fantasy, both on 32jazz are essential Woody Shaw, as well.

I'll buy a copy of the new Dennis Gonzalez cd with Henry Grimes for the first person to post a video clip of this.

contact Hiroshi Tanno at hiroshi@earlyrecords.com

The Woody Shaw Mosaic is good, but his performances on the 32Jazz discs that I have heard are fantastic. It is a shame that all of this material keeps going oop.

I decided to go on my cd buying moratorium starting tomorrow. Which means I was free to email Hiroshi Tanno today. I really want to hear Music From Two Basses, which was mentioned a few days ago and will also be ordering Cecil Taylor's Live in The Black Forest. As an afterthought I asked if he could supply a copy of Pharoah Sanders' Live at the East, just in case he happens to come across a copy, by chance. It never hurts to ask, right?

Yes! It is a fantastic disc! The live performance burns and you get some great Woody Shaw, too. I love the guy in the audience who keeps screaming "do your thang, Roy, DO YOUR THANG!!"

I have never known Bruce at DMG to be unbiased in his reviews. There are quite a few posts on this years Vision Festival over on JC that give wildly different (some glowing some very negative) reviews of many of the sets. Well worth reading if you are interested in these artists. I can't imagine how expensive it would be to live in NYC with so many fantastic shows happening every week.

With the current exchange rate these are just over $16 from Verge. Cadence has them for $17. Those are the best prices I have found so far.

This is a disc that might have slipped beneath many people's radars: Barry Altschul - You Can't Name Your Own Tune Despite the sly dig at Braxton in the album title, this one is very inspired by him and features some great playing. Altschul on drums and percussion, Sam Rivers on tenor, soprano, and flute, Dave Holland on bass, George Lewis on trombone and Muhal Richard Abrams on piano. This was recorded in 1977 and was last issued on 32jazz, so it should be out of print at this point. Highly recommended, if you can track down a copy.

as far as I recall, yes, it is a good disc. I'll listen to it again this week and let you know what I think. I have a lot of Brotzmann on FMP that I bought from someone used for $7 or $8 each. Campbell is not bad at all on the DLAD disc on Eremite. You should give it a chance someday. Not essential, but a really nice disc if you are a fan of this music.